Small soapbox

I was thinking on the way home from work (I know, I should stop that). But anyway, what came to my mind was: the beginning of the end of social interaction in our society began when they started building houses WITHOUT front porches. I seriously remember many hours spent on various front porches in my lifetime. Evenings of saying hello, and more, to people walking down the sidewalk. And kids playing in the front yard and on the sidewalk until after dark. Red Rover, Tag, Take a Giant Step, dodgeball, etc. .... constant INTERACTION with one's peers. Catching Lightning Bugs, June Bugs, et al. How wonderful.

Sunday afternoons and evenings we would, as a family, walk to the drug store by Green Street Park, for ice cream, from our house on Lee Street ... a distance of (best as I can figure now) about seven blocks or so. Two blocks to Berryman Ave, four or so to Calhoun and one or two to Jefferson Street. We didn't have an automobile. We would say hello to many people sitting on their front porches, and sometimes my parents would stop and talk for a while .... my brothers and I were small, I was about 5-6. These were happy times in my memory. Conversation was not a lost art and friendliness was expected and not unusual. And the pace of life was slower ... not so much in a hurry as today.

And then ... Television! People sat "inside" and watched the tube and left their front porches empty. Children no longer played outside as much. Then ... front porches became scarce. Now, they're almost non-existent on new homes. Even front windows remain closed / curtained / shuttered. The 'street' side of houses are unfriendly ... an uninviting. We, as a society lost something important. People live INSIDE or in walled or fenced back yards. We still have friends, but no longer count everyone in the neighborhood as friends. In fact ... lots of people in today's world have lived in areas for long periods of time and never met their neighbors, much less become close to them.

Nostalgia is wonderful, and everything is rosier in hindsight I know. But I really feel sorry for today's kids. They have tons of electronic gear ... phones, games, TVs, MP3s, et al ... and no imagination. They talk to their friends on cell phones, with text chat and on the computer. They don't talk face to face or while lying in a sun-drenched grassy field. They don't look at clouds and imagine shapes and foment dreams. They are grown-up at 12 and they never have an old fashioned childhood where a stick or some large rocks (Dean and bro Mickey, you remember 'The Rocks' on Lee Street) become everything that you need to play any game.

But ... I will be 61 on Monday, and I am beginning to sound like every older person that I have ever known. As POGO said, ... 'we have met the enemy and he is us!"...

Have a great week.